Mk4 Golf - misleading oil pressure warning light

[craigowl 0]

My daughter's 30k mile Golf has had warning light come on a couple of times. Oil is always at right level - no leaks of anything.

Handbook says take to dealer immediately.

She has had car examined - they returned it saying could find no problem.

She asked them what to do if it keeps coming on.

True to form, they were rather unhelpful, just saying "keep an eye on it."

Excuse me, but what does that mean precisely?

 

Similarly, my neighbour got rid of her bought-new, low mileage MK4 GTI after having spurious warnings from dashboard light.

They said "Sorry, we dont know what causes it."

She said "What am I supposed to do if you the experts dont know"

No reply. "It's all smoke and mirrors there" (at this particular VW dealership, she told me.)

She went to Audi garage and traded in for A3. Ta Ta VW.

 

Comments, particularly on false alarms from oil pressure light, welcome from anyone, please.

[davidwort 0]

My daughter's 30k mile Golf has had warning light come on a couple of times. Oil is always at right level - no leaks of anything.

Handbook says take to dealer immediately.

She has had car examined - they returned it saying could find no problem.

She asked them what to do if it keeps coming on.

True to form, they were rather unhelpful, just saying "keep an eye on it."

Excuse me, but what does that mean precisely?

 

Similarly, my neighbour got rid of her bought-new, low mileage MK4 GTI after having spurious warnings from dashboard light.

They said "Sorry, we dont know what causes it."

She said "What am I supposed to do if you the experts dont know"

No reply. "It's all smoke and mirrors there" (at this particular VW dealership, she told me.)

She went to Audi garage and traded in for A3. Ta Ta VW.

 

Comments, particularly on false alarms from oil pressure light, welcome from anyone, please.

 

An A3 is a golf really isn't it? :wink:

If you suspect the oil pressure sender they're probably around the 30 quid mark from VW, possibly available from GSF or ECP more cheaply depending on the exact part number.

If possible I'd try to borrow a pressure gauge and variable sender, or get a garage to check the pressure hot and cold and make sure it's within range, it could be the electronics in the gauge cluster but more more likely just the sender, my mk4 water temp sender has a mind of it's own, I just live with it rather than the hassle and cost of changing it. Apparently it's a common problem on mk4's.

David.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

If in doubt, get the engine's oil pressure checked.

 

I suspect the MK4 Golf uses a similar arrangement to the earlier cars where by two sensors detect a pressure drop accross point A and B in the circuit.....I think that's how it works anyway.

 

Try cleaning these sensors up because I cleaned up my MFA oil temp one the other day, sanded all the blue/green scaley crud off etc and my oil temp dropped 10 degrees and is a lot more consistent. It used to jump from like 98 to 114 degrees over 300 yards, LOL!

 

Worth a go..... if not, try UKMKivs.net and browse around for any common issues relating to this.